Numerous bat swing training aids have been devised for softball and baseball. Some of these include plates or mats placed on the ground beside a home plate, with foot placement indications for an address stance and swing stride. These aids vary in emphasis, mode of enforcement, intended result, safety, and other factors. However, none of them combines an ideal training result with safety, convenience, and practicality in the same way and to the same degree as the present invention.
For example, a product called “stride guide” is a flat plate with foot placement and stride indicators and a rotating disk for the ball of the back foot. It has a raised edge behind the disk to enforce lifting of the back heel, thus shifting the user's weight forward. It has other raised edges to limit the stride of the lead foot. However, it does not require the user to step with the lead foot, rather than slide, it does not physically set both feet in toe alignment for the address stance, it does not physically align the lead foot perpendicularly to the pitch, it does not physically set the address stance width, it does not retain the back foot, and it does not limit the pivot range of the back foot.
The present inventor feels that physical enforcement of address stance and stepping into the swing provides more definitive training and faster coaching than visual indicators alone, and that these physical enforcements make a stronger impression on a user's “muscle memory”. She also feels that physical limits on the back foot pivot range are important, both for training and safety.